Suit hinges on absentee vote, eh?
Monica Paquin, a former resident of Coeur d’Alene now living in the Montreal area, finds herself the focus of an effort to overthrow the 2009 Lake City elections. And all she did was return her absentee ballot with her vote for longtime friend Mike Kennedy. Challenger Jim Brannon, who has sued to overturn his five-vote loss to Kennedy, contends Monica didn’t have the right to vote in the election. After all, she’s been out of the country since Nov. 12, 2006. Erin Jenkins of Confidential Investigations contacted Monica Tuesday morning on behalf of Brannon to ask questions. Later, Monica told Huckleberries that she asked for an absentee ballot from Kootenai County in fall 2008 to vote in the presidential election. And requested she be sent absentee ballots for all elections afterward. She was told by Kootenai County officials that she could vote in her last place of residence in the United States as long as she didn’t vote elsewhere. Monica, who works for a Washington company, is classified as a “permanent resident” in Canada and has no idea when she will return to the states. She didn’t know Kennedy was running for council until she saw his name on her ballot. She told Huckleberries that she could understand an attempt to challenge a presidential result. But considers Brannon’s effort to overthrow a local election “ridiculous.” She’s right.
Grub Club launches
You can become a restaurant reviewer, along with dozens of your favorite Huckleberries Online characters, by joining the HBO Grub Club. I launched the Grub Club last week at the suggestion of Berry Picker EJS, who thought it’d be fun to review area restaurants en masse. For the last week, my blog commenters, bloggers, blurkers and possibly an online troll or two have dined at The Porch on Miles Avenue in Hayden. My Berry Pickers checked for ambience, size of menu, quality of food, service, and even the cleanliness of the bathrooms. We’ll begin discussing The Porch online Monday (when Huckleberries will reveal the next restaurant to be reviewed). So, you gotta ask yourself: Do you feel lucky? Wait a minute. Good movie. Wrong line. How about this: Do you have what it takes to be a Huckleberries Online restaurant reviewer? Hunh, punk? Er, Dear Reader.
Huckleberries
Poet’s Corner: “What is more cheerful/and more merry/than April days in/January?” – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Weather”) … Staci Lehman of Kootenai MPO knows that the Inland Northwest winter has been wonderfully mild. But she still didn’t expect to see a woman driving a convertible with the top down at 5 p.m. (so it was dark) Monday, Jan. 18. Staci didn’t say if the woman was blond … Before he became T.W. Fisher of Coeur d’Alene pub fame and she became Kerri Thoreson of Post Falls council fame, Tom and Kerri ran on a ticket at the old Coeur d’Alene High (now Lakes Middle School) for soph class prez and veep, respectively. And lost. Tim Shepherd won the prez election that year and, as Kerri points out, “went on to become ASB president and continues to be Class of ’70’s President forLife!” … Gary Edwards was watching the “Today” show Wednesday morning when Willard Scott “sent birthday greetings to someone he said lived in Coeur d’Alene, IOWA.”
Parting shot
Opinionator Marty Trillhaase of the Lewiston Tribune ripped state Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, for “pandering” to a Tea Party gathering at the state Capitol. Trillhaase writes that Hart “railed against the Federal Reserve system as ‘offensive to scripture’ ” when Hart “refused to pay his taxes for seven years” – and now “draws legislative pay, health insurance, per diem expenses, life insurance and retirement from the poor state taxpayer.” Concluded Trillhaase: Hart “ought to look up what the Bible has to say about hypocrites.” Ouch!